What is ABA?

ABA is simply the principle of behavior. The fact is, we all live by ABA principles which state that you are more likely to engage in a certain behavior in the future if you got something good for it. We live by ABA when we go to work (even a job we don't like) because we know we will get a paycheck at the end of the week. If we stopped getting that paycheck, we would be less likely to return to that job! We live by ABA principles when we answer the phone. We answer it because we know in the past we have heard someone on the other end wanting to talk to us. If telemarketers begin to be the only people calling us, we will be less likely to pick up the phone when it rings.

Using ABA to teach children with autism is not synonymous with sitting at a table to teaching children to robotically label flashcards. ABA is a mindset. It involves learning about each child, what they need to learn, where they are developmentally, what motivates them, and how to help them engage in the world around them. ABA in terms of teaching children with autism involves teaching skills systematically, making data-based decisions, targeting skills that will be socially significant and help the child become more independent, and having fun! An ABA program should involve lots of laughing, tickling, being silly, and progress that the family can see outside of the therapy room. A good ABA program will incorporate the use of many techniques; some of these may be discrete trial training, verbal behavior, play-based techniques, and relationship building techniques.

Polyxo.com has a wealth of information about autism and behavioral interventions.

Discrete trial training. Many people confuse ABA with discrete trial training (DTT). DTT is frequently used to teach early learners and is usually a part of many ABA home programs. It is a very precise way to break down skills and teach them systematically. It is often done "at the table", although is not necessarily required. In fact, some of the best DTs are done on the floor and during play.

One discrete trial consists of a request to do something from the therapist, a behavior from the student, and a return response from the therapist to either signal that the behavior was correct or incorrect. It also involves prompting correct responses, positive reinforcements and rewards, pausing to wait for responses, and correction procedures.

Polyxo.com has great information about the discrete trial.

Applied Verbal Behavior. AVB (or just VB) is a "flavor" of ABA that is based primarily on the work of Dr. B.F. Skinner 50 years ago. More recently, Drs. Partington and Sundberg developed The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS, often pronounced "ables") which measures 25 different areas of basic language and functional skills of a young learner. A VB approach uses these as a foundation to teaching early language and communication skills. A VB program is most concerned with a child being able to get his or her needs and wants across. This is the first and foremost thing to teach. In a VB program, it doesn't matter how the child communicates, just that s/he does communicate in a socially-acceptable way.

Some common terms used in a VB program: mand-request for something ("cookie" because the child wants to eat a cookie); tact-label of something ("cookie" when the child is shown a picture of a cookie whether or not the child wants to eat it); echoic-repeating of verbal sound or word ("cookie" when told, "Say, cookie"); intraverbal-verbal response under the control of another verbal behavior, usually thought of as conversational language or wh- questions ("cookie" when asked, "What is something you eat?").

Relationship Development Intervention®. RDI is a developmental program developed by Dr. Steven Gutstein who looked at typically-developing children and their developmental milestones. He developed a variety of techniques and activities that help a child with autism and other developmental disabilities reach these same milestones. It is similar to Floortime (link "Floortime" to http://www.floortime.org/) with the difference being that it is more adult-led in the goals and activities. However, it is still very much play-based with a special emphasis on involving the whole family.

You can find more information on RDI at their website.

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